Cop family's feud with East Bridgewater flares-up again

EAST BRIDGEWATER – Fired police officer John L. Silva III says the town has breached a 2011 settlement agreement it made that released him from repaying his unemployment reimbursement.At issue is roughly $22,000 in unemployment reimbursement that Silva and his family has paid to the state Department of Revenue, and Silva said he wants the town to reimburse him, as part of the settlement agreement he signed with town officials.

“I just want the town to live up to the agreement,” Silva, 40, said Thursday. “We both signed knowing what it was and the town has refused to live up to the agreement.”

He and his father, former Police Chief John L. Silva Jr., said the family is considering legal action against the town on the matter.

“We feel that they owe it to us,” Silva Jr., 71, said Thursday. “If they want us to be accountable, we expect them to be accountable.”

A settlement agreement dated March 1, 2011 states that the town and its officials “release and forever discharge Silva from any obligation to re-pay to the town unemployment compensation that he received from the town after he was dismissed.”

The agreement is signed by Silva III, Town Administrator George Samia and former East Bridgewater selectmen Joe Miksch, Theresa McNulty and Robert Condon.

Reached Thursday, Condon said he’s surprised that the town wouldn’t fulfill its obligation of the agreement.

“It was our intention that there was a disagreement on each side and our goal was to resolve the matter amicably in a way that minimized any future liability to the town and the employee,” said Condon, who resigned from the Board of Selectmen in October 2012.

Samia, selectmen Chairman Martin T. Crowley and Selectman David J. Sheedy could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Silva III said he learned the town had breached the agreement when, months later, the Department of Revenue seized his $2,337 tax return for not repaying his unemployment reimbursement.

In May 2013, the town sent Silva III a check in the amount of $2,333 for his tax return, according to a letter dated May 31, 2013 from Town Counsel Leo Peloquin to Silva III.

“The town disclaims any obligation to provide such checks in the future or, at its expense, to take the steps necessary to get the commonwealth to honor the waiver agreement between you and the town ... you will have to take the lead on that front,” the letter states.

Silva III and his family said they ended up paying roughly $22,000 of his unemployment reimbursement to the government, which included late fees.

“It’s been a whole tax mess for me ever since then,” Silva III said.

John L. Silva III, 40, was fired in 2006 for violating department rules and regulations and return-to-work agreements put into place for alcohol-related infractions.

His father – the former police chief, Silva Jr. – and brother, police officer Joel Silva, were also earlier fired by the town.

In 2009, the state Ethics Commission fined Silva Jr. $5,000 for violating the conflict of interest law by getting involved in disciplinary matters affecting his son, Silva III. The former chief said that year that he paid the fine.

On Nov. 19, 2003, Silva III was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident, months after being placed in protective custody for an alcohol-related incident.

According to the disposition agreement, the former police chief directed his son to take a Breathalyzer test at the beginning of each shift, then appointed himself the designated liaison and collected his son’s Breathalyzer tests.

Three times in 2004, Silva III failed to take the Breathalyzer tests as required. Silva Jr. allowed his son to work his police shifts despite these failures. Silva Jr. also did not report the missed tests to selectmen.

The former police chief also authorized his son to return to work before the end of his son’s 120-day suspension without pay and/or reinstatement of his driver’s license, and placed him on restricted desk duty.

Officer Joel Silva returned to work last August, after the Civil Service Commission ruled in June 2013 that Police Chief John Cowan wrongly fired him and that he should be returned to duty.

In December, Joel Silva filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the town and Cowan related to his firing.

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.

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